Evensong

=//Evensong,// Conrad Aiken (1916)=

**I ** In the pale mauve twilight, streaked with orange, Exquisitely sweet,-- She leaned upon her balcony and looked across the street; And across the huddled roofs of the misty city, Across the hills of tenements, so gray, She looked into the west with a young and infinite pity, With a young and wistful pity, as if to say The dark was coming, and irresistible night, Which man would attempt to meet With here and there a little flickering light. . . . The orange faded, the housetops all were black, And a strange and beautiful quiet Came unexpected, came exquisitely sweet, On market-place and street; And where were lately crowds and sounds and riot <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Was a gentle blowing of wind, a murmur of leaves, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">A single step, or voice, and under the eaves <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The scrambling of sparrows; and then the hush swept back.

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">II **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">She leaned upon her balcony, in the darkness, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Folding her hands beneath her chin; <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And watched the lamps begin <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Here and there to pierce like eyes the darkness,-- <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">From windows, luminous rooms, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And from the damp dark street <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Between the moving branches, and the leaves with rain still sweet. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It was strange: the leaves thus seen, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">With the lamplight's cold bright glare thrown up among them,-- <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The restless maple leaves, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Twinkling their myriad shadows beneath the eaves,-- <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Were lovelier, almost, than with sunlight on them, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So bright they were with young translucent green; <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Were lovelier, almost, than with moonlight on them. . . . <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And looking so wistfully across the city, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">With such a young, and wise, and infinite pity <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">For the girl who had no lover <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">To walk with her along a street like this, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">With slow steps in the rain, both aching for a kiss,-- <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It seemed as if all evenings were the same, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As if all evenings came <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">With just such tragic peacefulness as this; <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">With just such hint of loneliness or pain, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The quiet after rain.

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">III **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Would her lover, then, grow old sooner than she, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And find a night like this too damp to walk? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Would he prefer to stay indoors and talk, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Or read the evening paper, while she sewed, or darned a sock, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And listened to the ticking of the clock: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Would he prefer it to lamplight on a tree? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Would he be old and tired, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And, having all the comforts he desired, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Take no interest in the twilight coming down <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So beautifully and quietly on the town? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Would her lover, then, grow old sooner than she?

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">IV **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">A neighbor started singing, singing a child to sleep. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It was strange: a song thus heard,-- <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In the misty evening, after an afternoon of rain,-- <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Seemed more beautiful than happiness, more beautiful than pain, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Seemed to escape the music and the word, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Only, somehow, to keep <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">A warmth that was lovelier than the song of any bird. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Was it because it came up through this tree, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Through the lucent leaves that twinkled on this tree, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">With the bright lamp there beneath them in the street? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It was exquisitely sweet: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">So unaffected, so unconscious that it was heard. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Or was it because she looked across the city, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Across the hills of tenements, so black, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And thought of all the mothers with a young and infinite pity? . . . <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The child had fallen asleep, the hush swept back, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The leaves hung lifeless on the tree.

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">V **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It was too bad the sky was dark. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">A cat came slinking close along the wall. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">For the moon was full just now, and in the park, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If the sky were clear at all, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The lovers upon the moonlight grass would sprawl, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And whisper in the shadows, and laugh, and there <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">She would be going, maybe, with a white rose in her hair. . . <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But would youth at last grow weary of these things, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Of the ribbons and the laces, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And the latest way of putting up one's hair? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Would she no longer care, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">In that undiscovered future of recurring springs, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If, growing old and plain, she no longer turned the faces <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And saw the people stare? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Would she hear music and not yearn <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">To take her lover's arm for one more turn? . . . <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The leaves hung breathless on the dripping maple tree, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The man across the street was going out. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It was the evening made her think such things, no doubt. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But would her lover grow old sooner than she? . . . <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Only the evening made her think such things, no doubt. . ..

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">VI **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And yet, and yet,-- <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Seeing the tired city, and the trees so still and wet,-- <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">It seemed as if all evenings were the same; <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">As if all evenings came, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Despite her smile at thinking of a kiss, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">With just such tragic peacefulness as this; <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">With just such hint of loneliness or pain; <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The perfect quiet that comes after rain.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Accessed on 30th October 2011 on <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">http://www.poetry-archive.com/a/evensong.html